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Team Obama to clear $55 million

The Obama campaign is likely to beat its $55 million target for combined third-quarter contributions to joint party and presidential committees — but likely to lag behind its record-breaking second-quarter haul, according to Democrats involved in the effort.

Obama’s surrogates have always low-balled his fund raising totals, the better to make a big splash when they shattered expectations. But for the July-to-September reporting period, which ends midnight Friday, the usual poor-mouthing has a greater glint of sincerity, thanks to the postponement of a dozen fundraisers due to the endless summer debt ceiling debate.

“Clearly, the effort is solid if not another [record-breaker],” South Carolina Democratic Chairman Dick Harpootlian, a member of Obama’s national finance council, told POLITICO. “When you have a demanding day job like him, you don’t have the time to do as much fund raising as a guy like Rick Perry, who doesn’t care if Texas burns down.”